Three: Aryn

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Spoilers Ahead!

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Aryn did his best to find a dry spot against the rocky cell wall slick with slime mold and other colorful growth. Of course, he'd found the only lonely drunk guard in Korbantir who wouldn't take a bribe. At least now he was in the town. Well, underneath it, anyway. He'd been searched, shackled, and pushed down the staircase into the jail with a few extra gut punches for good measure. They always punch an orc. The place was marinated with the stink of endless shit buckets, stale piss drying on the walls, and the vomit-coated drunk tank. It was lit dimly enough that he couldn't tell if the puddle next to him contained any of these substances or was simply rainwater. His cell was one of six, crudely carved into the ashen bedrock beneath the guard barracks. Two other cells besides his were occupied.

His first neighbor was hard to miss. In the flickering torch light, a middle-aged half-elf woman sat on the cold, rocky floor of the opposing cell, dressed in a long black skirt and a shapeless red tunic. She simply stared at him while running her fingers across the iron bars. There was a rhythmic plonk-plonk-plonk as they steadily swept back and forth, changing the pitch with each pass of her fingers. It sounded faintly musical to Aryn. She hadn't said a word to him, but there was a snide little smirk on her face that hadn't faded yet. She studied him, he thought. Trouble.

His second neighbor was obscured by a wall, but what he did see confused him. A pair of large, dirt-caked hooves poked from between the bars. Occasionally, they twitched and kicked as deafening snores erupted, reverberating off every surface in the cells.

Aryn leaned back against the wall and instinctively reached into his pocket. His token was no longer there. Neither was his coin purse nor any of his belongings other than the clothes he wore. His meeting at the Potted Pike wasn't going to happen. Depending on the local laws, this could end badly. He'd been locked up before, but never for bribing a guard. Usually, they'd gladly take the money. This was a first.

Plonk-plonk-plonk. Pitched a bit higher this time. The half-elf's smirk widened into a grin. Plonk-plonk-plonk-crack. She looked up. "Ah, there you go, darling," she said in a slightly nasal tone as a piece of rock fell from where the bars were mounted into the wall. She picked up the tiny piece, rose to her feet, stretched, and lounged on her cot, inspecting her fingertips. "It looks like you've got a short stay, stranger," she said, flicking the rock across the corridor in his direction. It bounced off his shoe and pecked him painfully inside his thigh. She locked eyes with him again. "You must have really pissed someone off to end up in there."

"I guess so," Aryn said and rubbed the sore spot. "What do you mean by 'short stay?'"

"Oh darling," she said and leaned forward, smiling. "They don't put a cot or a bucket in your cell because you won't need them. See, us," she said while pointing her thumb to the wall, beyond which lay the hoofed snorer. "We're just here on an extended stay due to a," she paused and considered her words for a moment, "technical misunderstanding. But you? My greenish friend, you'll swing from a rope by sunset today."

"What?" Aryn yelled out and leaped to his feet. "They'll kill me for bribing a guard?"

The half-elf leaned back against her wall and laughed. "Don't you know what happened in Leikon? The reason the town locked down?"

"I guess not."

"Oh no, darling, that's unfortunate. Where are you from?"

He considered telling her the truth for a moment. "Cauldin's Point."

"And somehow you've avoided news of Leikon that close by?" She laughed. "Sister towns in the heart of Korbantir? Come on, orcling, you can't expect me to believe that."

"I don't keep up with the news."

"Sure, that, or you're just a terrible liar."

A door opened somewhere above them. The bustling noise of street life flooded the jail.

"Keep it quiet down there," a gruff voice yelled down.

The door slammed shut, and for a moment, Aryn and the half-elf woman sat looking at each other in silence. Silently, she rose from her cot and ran her fingers across the bars again. Plonk-plonk-plonk, followed by more pieces of rock falling to the floor. "Well, darling," she said while repeating the movement. "How would you like to get out of here?"